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101 things: month 6

Already six months into my project! I keep reminding myself that I have plenty of time to go. I'm almost done with my final 10 that I need to add, but I need one or two more and am waiting to post them.

It's been another busy month here, so progress continues to go slow. I will hopefully begin picking up more items soon. The difficult ones are going to be the month-long items.

66. Find a geocache

I went geocaching with my coworker. It was my first time doing the whole process myself (finding coordinates, inputting them, and then finding the location). I had a crash course in GPS and then had to teach the skills to my coworker. I then immediately put the skills to use in a team-building activity we did for the nearby St. Olaf College. I think this is what I love most about my job; I get to learn about cool outdoor things, and then I get to teach other people about these things I love.

77. post an entry about how I afford to travel

I decided that going general was the far better way to address this goal. Sure, I could explain my budget for trips, but my own ideas of how to travel are quite different than the ideas of may people I know (habits people have found strange: sleeping in hostels, cooking my own food, and a refusal to take a taxi). Additionally, I find a lot of people don't even know how to get money together to go traveling. I'm hoping that my advice will help someone out there.

33. Do 5 video posts on my blog

I continue to be in progress on the video posts.

0 more in progress for 6 total in progress
2 more completed for 23 total completed

Video post!

Perhaps the lamest one ever, but I felt compelled to make a video, and this is all I could come up with. I blame it on the sickness that is apparently infecting my brain.

How I afford to travel, in the general sense

Short answer: priorities and thrift

Long answer:

Shockingly, just an expansion of my short answer. Travel is one of the most important things in my life. I love pulling on my backpack and heading to a new place. And I love this so much that I am willing to forego other pleasantries in order to save money to provide for travel.

Finding a Geocache

Step 1: Logon to geocaching.com; find geocaches within walking distance of work.

Step 2: acquire satellites on GPS unit borrowed from work (also, be amazed if you happen to get a fix while inside a building. very lucky!)

Something that makes me sad this morning

I will now be a customer of Chase bank instead of Washington Mutual. While the official transition will take awhile, the purchasing has already been done. I've been anxiously watching the WaMu news for the past few weeks and hoping that nothing would happen. While WaMu is no longer my main bank, I've left a decent amount of money there (well, not for them probably, but a good amount for me) for years. It makes me angry that others have been pulling their money out of Washington Mutual over the past few weeks, as runs on deposits make it difficult for banks to maintain the capital they need to stay solvent.

WaMu was the first bank account I ever personally opened, and I've had my account for just about a decade now. When I was 15 and started working at the Kingdome, my mom took my first paycheck and me over to the bank, sat us down, and helped me open up an account. I faithfully and happily used WaMu for almost everything (one exception: car loan from BECU) for the entire time I was in Seattle. Moving to Michigan, where there are no WaMu branches, is the only reason I ever reduced my use of WaMu. I've been keeping my account in hopes that I would one day move back to the land of WaMu and be able to use my bank again.

I'm not sure why I like WaMu so much. It's probably like any other bank. But I liked the home-town connection and plethora of pleasant tellers at local banks. I didn't mind banking at a west coast only bank (at least, I didn't mind it until I moved off the west coast).

I suppose it doesn't matter so much. My account will slide into becoming a Chase account (which would be nice except for the fact that there doesn't appear to be any Chase banks in Minnesota either). I'll still have my stupid CD that comes due in 2010 for something like $170; don't ask me why I signed up for a 5 year CD and then forgot about it and let it roll over. And since I now bank with a bank in Michigan (University of Michigan Credit Union), I will just have to figure out a better bank once I finally figure out where I might someday live.

I have to say this: I'm not a fan of big corporate bailouts. I don't think we should save the shirts of people who made bad investments. I certainly think limits need to be placed on how taxpayer money is spent to both manage our economy well and not infuse too much cash into the upper echelons of society. I still firmly believe that helping the consumer will do much more, and the non-trained portion of my brain (I never took econ) wonders why we can't just use those billions of dollars to pay into the mortgages that are failing for people in order to let them keep their house and allow cash to flow to the banks.

But I'm still sad that WaMu will be no more.

my life in (lots of) pictures

Cutie-patootie we found on the road

showy goldenrod, one of the many prairie plants we have here -- I teach kids about the prairie on a regular basis

we see lots of birds at our well-stocked feeders, including tons of downy woodpeckers

Time for a change

I share this because it is deeply important to me. If you'd like to avoid political talk, feel free to skip by this one. But if, like me, you feel that something is not quite right in our country, then listen, read, and inform yourself. The middle class needs to stop shooting itself in the foot waiting for trickle down economics to work and needs to invest time and effort into the cause of creating new jobs at home and giving our middle and lower class workers jobs they can be proud of. The best way to stop the dependency on welfare? Give people something to do. And how to create something to do? Bring new jobs to the country by working diligently to provide a real solution for energy creation that can have middle and low class workers working decent jobs for honest pay.

For those who think Democrats can't have a strong economic plan, I suggest checking out a historical track record of Democrats and Republicans that clearly shows that Democrats have been better for economic growth and prosperity in our country.

Have you ever…

After seeing this on multiple blogs, I decided it was my turn to have a go.

1. gone on a blind date?
Yup! In my first year of grad school, I went to one meeting of a book club. The ladies there were all in their mid-30s and not really in the same phase of life, so I never returned. But I did get a date out of it. One of the ladies worked at the power company, and there was a young guy in the business department there that was single. She gave him my email address and he emailed me to ask me out. We went to dinner and out on a few more dates before parting ways. It was interesting and perfectly fine.

2. skipped school?
Not intentionally. I once accidentally skipped a day of college because I scheduled a return plane ticket for the wrong day (no joke!). I skipped a class or two in high school but it was typically for legitimate reasons like working on theatre stuff or printing photos for a photo contest.

3. watched someone die?
No. I have seen some dead relatives, but I've never actually been there.

4. been on the opposite side of your country?
I have swum in both the Atlantic (trip to New England) and the Pacific (because I lived there).

5. swam in the ocean?
Yup! The first time ever was when I was 6 and in Guatemala.

6. had your booze taken away by the cops?
Um, no. The only one time I came close to getting in trouble for drinking, I didn't actually have any alcohol on me. This was during college, and the security officer happened to be someone that I regularly talked to. Most everyone at school treated him horribly (he was a real stickler for the rules), but I was always nice to him. Campus legend was that I was the only one who ever ran into him while drunk and didn't get written up.

I'd like to further add (mostly for the benefit of my parents and any future employers) that I drank less than 5 times during the entire time I was in college, including legal drinking.

7. lettered in high school sport?
Nope. I didn't start doing sports until grad school, really.

8. played cops and robbers?
All the time. My best friend in kindergarten was a guy, and we had lots of fun. I often got tied to trees in his yard as the "jail."

9. sung karaoke?
Oh yes. My friends in Ann Arbor are real karaoke fiends. I also did karaoke during my trip to Korea (2002).

10. paid for a meal with coins only?
I'm absolutely sure I have. When I was 16-18, my then-best friend and I would go to the supermarket and get two corndogs ($1), a loaf of french bread ($1), and some nectarines for our lunch. If we could scrounge a little more, we'd buy aloutte or cheese.

11. made prank phone calls?
I don't remember doing so. I'm pretty serious about that kind of stuff and don't really find it funny.

12. laughed until some sort of beverage came out of your nose?
I do this _all_the_time. The key question is this: have you ever laughed until something other than a beverage came out your nose? and the answer would be yes. the next answer would be chunks of apple. My brothers are cruel.

13. written a letter to Santa Claus?
I think I did when I was a kid. But I'm pretty sure I always knew santa was just make believe.

14. watched the sunrise with someone you care about?
Sadly, no. Someday. Watching a sunrise is on my 101 things list.

15. been kissed under the mistletoe?
Not yet.

16. ever been arrested?
Never even came close. But I did once ride in the back of a police car! One of my friends knew the guy, and he gave us a ride to our car on a cold night.

17. gone ice skating?
Yup. Great fun!

18. been skinny dipping outdoors?
The sad part is that I can't remember. I think so? Probably at church camp or something (not actually during camp). I've definitely been swimming in my underwear. If I haven't been skinny dipping, it's just from lack of opportunity.

19. been on TV?
Yes! I'm actually in the current rotation on the local cable access channel. They came out to our nature center to film some stuff, and I got briefly interviewed.

and, from April, a number of 20s

20. stayed up all night; been sprayed by a skunk; eaten an entire gallon of ice cream at once; made something art-like out of the inner parts of a computer's hard drive; gone hang-gliding; intentionally eaten a bug; or done something else strange or unusual?
Yes; no; no; no; close enough; yes; of course.

Things I'd love to post about in more detail

1. Tonight's long and very lovely conversation with my good friend Viola. We went to college together, and she is what Anne of Green Gables always called a kindred spirit. Any time we talk, we just pick up where we last were. The last time I saw Viola was last November in Spain, and we haven't had any contact since. We had a fabulous night talking about love, our futures, and what we want out of the world. It's good to know that I'm not the only one at this strange crossroads of kind of knowing what I want but not quite knowing how to put it into action. Viola is an expat in Spain (tho she is living in the US for the next 3 months for some sort of tax something or other), and she is also trying to figure out how exactly to put her skills into action.

2. Today's Dutch oven cooking class that I helped with. I've been working extra at work in order to learn more about putting on public programs. We learned how to cook outdoors with charcoal and Dutch ovens, and it was great fun. Fabulous food too! I've got pictures. I meant to upload them, but I ended up calling Viola instead.

3. All the cool critters I'm seeing. Today, I saw a little toad while walking out to my bike. Then, while biking home, I saw a doe and two large fawns. I was able to get pretty close on my bike (moving very very slowly) before they bolted.

4. The prairie, working at a nature center, learning about trees, and all the other cool stuff. How so very fulfilled I feel. How thinking about my life now makes me want to cry, but the tears are all tears of joy because I am so profoundly happy that my dream job exists and that I have it. It may not pay as much as I like, but that's okay with me. I'm just happy to be outside, enjoying nature, and teaching people about nature. It is what I have always wanted to do. I love teaching and translating "difficult" and "complex" subjects into something anyone can understand.

Work keeps me really busy. I've got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow to be ready for this next week. I'm taking on a lot of responsibility. But it is still awesome, and I wouldn't trade this for the world.

Various fun purchases today

I can already sense that this month will be a really high credit card bill what with moving and everything. Every month I keep thinking I'll finally buy a bike, and each month I see that my credit card bill is already higher than my liking. I suppose that's the kind of stuff that keeps me honest. Today, I did make a few purchases that mean I'll probably put off buying my own bike until sometime next year.

At the house my nature center has graciously provided for me, there are some bikes in the garage. I have claimed one of these bikes and am now in the process of fixing it up to be more comfortable. My fancy purchases today in pursuit of this goal:

- new bike seat (picked out for me by my awesome bike riding supervisor)
- bike lights (front light and flashing rear light, just to keep me safe)
- bungie cords (to bungie a milk crate onto the pannier rack I'll be putting on the back of the bike)
- car powdered air pump (to keep my tired inflated; also useful for inflating my soccer ball that is losing air)

I made these purchases at Target and Fleet Farm, two Minnesota favorites. Fleet Farm has to be the most interesting "let's get lost here" store; it somehow manages to cram aisles of candy, a bike center, clothing, and horse tack all into one giant super store of midwestern awesomeness. Someday, I must go there and get lost.

I'm still in the process of fixing up my room here, but I should get all the bike stuff done this week. So far, I've ridden my bike on every normal working day (it's ~ 1.3 miles to work); I only drove today because I headed to work straight from church, and I wasn't sure about the timing if I biked everywhere. Once the rack is in place, I should be able to reduce my driving trips to just one grocery run a week. Here's to saving the earth! (or at least some oil)